Yarn-changing mechanism for knitting-machines.



R. W. SCOTT.

YARN CHANGING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING MACHINES.

APPLECAHON FILED JULY 23. 1914.

1,159,874, I Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

w/b'fiiesls'es' Ina/6mm R Q Q m ROBERT W. SCOTT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO SCOTT & WILLIAMS, INCORPORATED, 013 CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY, .A CORPORATION NEW JERSEY.

YARN -CHANGING MECHANISM FOR KNITTING-MACHINES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT W. Soon, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Yarn-Changing Mechanism for Knitting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to mechanism for changing the yarn in a knitting machine, and especially to devices'of this nature capable of relatively frequent actuation to knit split foot, sectionally spliced and other forms of fabric.

I have illustrated my devices as an improvement on the mechanism shown and described in my application No. 845,844, filed June 18, 1914:, but it will be evident that the new devices may be applied to other forms of knitting maohines.-

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 'is a vertical section showing the needles and yarn guides and the devices for actuating them in side elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the actuating cams for said devices; Fig. 3 is a detail development of the needle cam ring; Fig. 4 is a view showing the needles.

In my said application I disclosed a yarn changing and yarn splicing device comprising a series of yarn guide levers pivoted above and outside of the circle of needles in a circular knitting machine, and a device for lifting and lowering said yarn guide levers to change their yarns comprising a series of independent thrust bars, in contact at their lower ends with a pattern cam surface. One of the'yarn guide levers was, for

sectional splicing, provided on its under side with a lug against which the nose of its thrust bar takes, so that said thrust bar when moved laterally elevates its yarn guide, to sharply remove the yarn thereof from the needles, the yarn being returned whenever the bar'is permitted to resume its normal lateral position. A cam carried by the webholder bed was provided to move the lug on the bar for this purpose, the pattern cam moving the barlengthwise to determine whether or not its lug was in range of the said cam, and hence to determine the timely operation of the splicing device.

The present invention provides in addition mechanism for an exchange of yarns occurring during rotary knitting in the same course at a plurality'of separated intervals Specification of- Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application ,filed July 23, 1914. Serial No; 852,605.

about the knit tube, provision being made to retain the yarn guide put out of work in its operative position after the yarn guide put mto work shall have begun to feed a new yarn to the needles. My new devices prov 1de for an exchange of this nature occurring persistently at the same needle wales forcourse after course, to provide a longitudmally split or sutured fabric, such for instance as will be suitable for a substituted 6' fabric above the heel at the back offa stock ing, or for a split foot, which may if deslred be provided with a sole of heavier yarn, or a yarn different in color or kind from the fabric of the leg and the top thereof. 7

In the knitting machine chosen for illustration, the needle cylinder 260 and the attached web-holder bed 295 rotate with respect to theneedle cams, yarn-feeding devices and other auxiliaries held in; a relatlvely stationary position on the frame of themachine. My device is, however, independent of this arrangement, obviouslybe it ing adapted to a. machine in which the-stitch cams, yarn guide levers and actuating devlces for the yarn guide levers rotate with respect to relatively stationary needles. The needle cams comprise stitch cams 6 and 7, top center cam 8 and bottom center cam 9.

For the purposes presently to be ex plained, I provide the machine with a top center cam 8 cut away at 10 to remove a part of its lower apex, to permit needles having abnormally short butts to pass said cam at a higher level than the remaining needles.

The yarn feeding devices comprise a series of yarn guide levers F journaled at 554 on the latch guard ring, which latch guard ring comprises a throat plate 559 upon which said yarn guide. levers rest, under the influ- "ence of springs f when they are in their normally operattve position. The said devices are at the neighborhood of the plane central of the stitch cams shown in Fig. 3.

In my present device two or more yarn guides, as F F are provided with lugs 5., on their under faces to cooperate with the upper beveled ends of thrust bars 460 and 460 respectively associated with said yarn 1 guide levers. Each of the thrust bars occupies a slot in a comb 451 attached to a stud 4:50 fast in the frame of the machine, the upper end of the bar being guided by a comb 4:62 fixed to the frame of the machine. us

50 to thetim'es of the production of each article carries suitable cams 502 for elevating thebars'when their yarn guides are to be thrown away from the axis of the machine. at the. [comb 162., as illustrated in Fig.1, The arrangement is .such: that, a, lateral movement Saidthrhst freedom away from the axis of thecylinder 260 at the upper ends-ofvthe thrust bars will ""ele-"r vate the yarn guide levers by movement against the-can1. lug.5..

For the purposes of the 'present device,

means are provided to render the yarn guides F wholly inoperative, by elevatingtheir thrust bars in the direction of their 'le' n-gthland at 'p redete'rmined times to cause saidyarnguides F' ,'F to become operatlve sion being'made tooverlap the yarnsupon; a few needles common to' successive segalternately segments of the needles carf yitlw lt ta i n dl s i e Pro meat-s; a structure when repeatedf for successive courses forms a longitudinalsu- "tuie or union between P EP f the ifillOIlC knit by theyarn of'each of saidyarn guides,

the yarn out of work floating at; the interior of the fabric until again introduced. a For a split foot stocking the points of. "union or sutures may be opposite points ofthe tube of fabric knit by one yarn guide1forming,

thesole of the foot, the fabricl k nit by the F other forming the instep or top of the foot.

i organized machine'movmg in relation to or f in unison with the needles means for moving Inlayprovide upon any member of the "the. thrust bar's 460' laterally 15 this pairpo se, 'biitfl"prefer to employ cam'sfg and in ss? A "295, for instance by bemg seated in an an- I 'j "nlilarrecessformed in the bottom of the attached to the face of the webaholde'r bed Y weehoiaertea 295"uponwhich they are ffastened' by screws 0. 40

= the planes of the cams g and h respectively.

{The th ri'i'st' bars 460* and 460 at the guides F ','F maybe alike withthe excepfitioi'i of the provision on bar 460" of a lug at at, and on bar 4:60 of a lug b at respectively different vertical positions when the bottom o'f tliebars are in a certain position, and in This position of the bars 460 may be determinedbyieccentric limit stops 448 taking against the upper face of the comb 451.

be' made.

""The pattern drun'rlQO rotating in relation out of action, and for permitting the said bars to drop to the extent determined by the ting of the heel,- but at the close of the knit,

Cains 502 on the drum 120 will main ting of the heel, said cams-permit bars 460* ,.and.460 to drop to feed a white yarn for thesole of the stocking-"and ablack, yarn for the instep of the stocking. The cam g,

which is associated in a rotary sense with the needles having short butts represented .by the line a will, when the bars for the guides-F F are dropped, react with the lug b controlling the lateral position of the bar l60 for the guide F to throw the back yarn out of action during the passage of-the short butt needles, while the cam h';asso- 'ciated with the needles having long butts indicated byllthe line a will react. with lug njof the bar tGO for the yarn guide F to throw out the white yarn for the-sole, at

said needles n.

Referring. now to Fig. 2, whenthe knitting the heel is finished, the cams 502 run from .under the end of both .thrustbars, causing the lugs a" and b to drop until they contact with the upper faces of that cam g, b passing their location at this time. This movement is timed by placing cams 502 at the proper point to cause the lugs a. and b to encounter the lower cam 9, thus permitting the bar 460 and the gi'iidiF carrying the white yarn to come toits adjusted position for feeding the white yarn.

The position of the lug Z9 and the bar LGO for the guide F carrying the blackyarn is then such as to bring it into'the plane of I or .1 h, in which'p'ojsition the lug b will not encounter the periphery of its own cam 9,

but rests upon the upper face'of the cam g...

The cam g is so formedas to permit lug b to drop, having at 9 an intermediate level between the outer circumference p and the inner circumference '9 thereof, which lever precedes the leading slope h. of the cam h by an interval providing time for the dropping of the bar under the influence of .spring f into proper engagement with its 'own' cam g. Cain'h may be provided with aslope 71 preceding the level '9" to move both the bars laterally to permit thisl mo 'tion of thebarcarrying'the lug b; Th

effect of the slope l1; upon the bar 460* carrying lugf?) is also to have it laterally against the lug 50f its guide"F ,'to hold said guide in position'2, Fig; 1', immediately above needles passing 'the' th roat'gplate at a normal level,'and therefore to lioldzits yarn in a position at which itfjwill not eiiterthe needles until it has reach'ec'l the lower position 1 permitted by lower level 9 of" its cam g, at slo e 9 Immediately following the time of ropping the' bai's as described at the point indicated-that yarn guide F carrying the heel yarn will have been; re-

moved by cam rbperly placed on "the drum 120, to substitute yarn of "the yarn guide *F 'fbr'the' heel yarn at this point. To secure taking the' bl'ackyarn so entered and for otherpurposes, suture needles n arranged to project above the other needles, as by having shorter butts than the normal short butt needles, are provided between the ends of the short butt and long butt series as indicated in Fig. 2. By reason of the cut 10 in the top center cam 8, these needles maintain the advance caused by the preceding stitch cam 7 past the yarn-taking point, so that a yarn guide positioned at 2, Fig. 1, by the lateral movement of its thrust bar when in contact with an intermediate level of the cams g or it will first encounter said suture needles. The black yarn of yarn guide F will therefore enter at the suture needles. The white yarn of yarn guide F after passage of said suture needles is immediately removed by elevation of guide F to position 3 by the slope h of the cam 72., and the yarns remain in this position until the next suture and exchange of yarns is to be formed, on the opposite side of the tube as shown. The cam h is at this point formed with an intermediate level r to drop the yarn guide F to position 2 to encounter the advanced suture needles 12. followed by an incline r to drop the yarn guide F to its lowest position 1, as shown in Fig. 1. The cam g at this point is of a symmetrically opposite form, as shown, to remove the black yarn in two stages, the intermediate level of the cam g coinciding with the intermediate level 1* of the cam 72. at that point which is opposite the lugs a and b when the yarn guides are in contact with the suture needles, as at s, Fig. 2.

It will be noticed that the oi'erlapped ends of cams g and k provide a longer intermediate level at one suture than at the other, but this is without importance to the operation, except for the described function of permitting the lug to be acted upon by. the lower cam to reach its cam in a timely manner, the entry of the respective yarn guides F F to their lowermost position after the passage of the suture needles being precautionary only, to lower the yarn with respect to the needles traveling at a lower level at the yarn feed point, and thus to avoid accidental removal of the yarn in work caused by slackness or vibration. Ordinarily the leading suture needle, having safely taken the yarn, its motion down the stitch cam will suifice to bring the yarn into the hooks of the following needles passing in a normal position. \Vhen the toe of the stocking or the section of-fabric near the toe is reached, bars 460 and bars 460* may be elevated during the passage of the cam g, the yarn for knitting the remainder of the fabric being inserted by moving one of the guldes F just prior to this motion.

I do not herein claim the inventlon common to this application and my applicat on Serial No. 851,931, filed July 20, 1914, whlch contains claims to the genus of which my present invention illustrates a species.

Vhat I claim is: i

1. In a knitting machine, the combination with needles of yarn guides, an instrument for each of said yarn guides movable in one direction to render said guides respectively operative and inoperative, cams relatively movable with respect to said instruments and relatively fixed with respect to said needles acting directly on a part of each of said instruments when they are positioned to render their guides operative to move each of said instruments in another direction to render their respective guides inoperative and operative alternately.

2. In a knitting machine, the combination with needles of yarn guides, a thrust-bar for each of said yarn guides, lugs on said thrust-bars, and means to lower and elevate said thrust-bars to render said guides respectively operative and inoperative, cams rotating in horizontal planes for coaction with said lugs of each of a plurality of said thrust-bars when they are positioned in their lower position to move said thrustbars laterally to render their respective guides inoperative and operative alternately.

8. In a yarn changing device for knitting machines, the combination with yarn guides movable into and out of operative position of thrust-bars for each of said yarn-guides and means for lifting and lowering two or more of said thrust-bars together to place their yarn guides into and out of operative position, in combination with cams in different horizontal planes rotating in the path of lugs carried by said thrust-bars, for operating said yarn guides, said cams having coincident high and low parts, and having coincident intermediate levels to permit one of said lugs to pass to the lower cam to be actuated thereby.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT W. SCOTT.

Witnesses:

MARJORIE H. SHELDON, MARY F. GRIFFIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. C. 

